


And the Loser Has To Do It Twice

by jade_starlight



Category: CW Network RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-02
Updated: 2010-08-02
Packaged: 2017-10-10 22:05:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/104817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jade_starlight/pseuds/jade_starlight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jared and Jensen are college students involved in a game of zombies vs. humans.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And the Loser Has To Do It Twice

"All right, gentlemen and ladies. The first rule of zombie warfare is that you must trust your chosen weapon. It must be reliable, it must be sturdy and you must be able to use it well under any circumstances."

Jensen just shook his head, automatically tuning out Mike's lecture on proper weapons choice to the newbies and trying not to snort at Tom's wide-eyed attention. Instead he threw an arm across Jared's shoulders and pulled him down the next aisle. "Don't listen to Rosie. He may know a lot about the guns, but his biggest thing is figuring out how he can trick the things out."

Jared cocked his head to the side. "You can trick out nerf guns?"

"Oh, yeah." Jensen chuckled. "He had one last year that left welts when it hit you. Some poor guy was black and blue for weeks afterwards, just cause Mike shot him so many times. It was kinda cool, actually."

Jared blinked, then just shook his head. "So, what would you recommend?"

"Rule number one: KISS."

Jared blinked again. "Um, what now?"

Jensen grinned. "KISS: keep it simple, stupid. Take this gun over here." He pointed at a Maverick. "Sure, it looks nice and it's a multi-shot. But it jams like nobody's business, and that's the last thing you want when you're surrounded by zombies."

"Okay, jamming is bad. I get that. But what about that one?"

Jensen glanced over at the gun Jared was pointing at. "A Firefly? Unless you're running around in the middle of the night, the laser is kind of pointless. And so are the glow in the dark darts. Oh, and you definitely don't want this one."

Jared picked up the offending package, trying to figure out just what the problem with it was. "All right, I'll bite. Why don't I want this one?"

Jensen smirked. "Because for all it's fancy talk about being battery powered, it's kind of quick off the draw, if you know what I mean." He made a slightly obscene gesture with his fingers. "The darts will maybe fly for about a foot before they just sort of flop over on the ground."

"Ahh. No, that doesn't sound good." After a moment of silence, Jared finally sighed and gave up. "All right, Jensen. What specific gun would you recommend I get?"

Jensen's grin widened. "Well, there are a few good options. First, there's the Nite Finder. True, the laser is pretty useless, but if you ignore that part the gun itself is pretty good. It's a single shot, easy to cock and pretty accurate."

Jared picked up the appropriate package and raised an eyebrow. "It looks sort of...small."

"Yep. Makes it easier to carry and easier to hide. Plus, it's really light so it won't drag you down any if you have to make a quick getaway." Jensen put the Nite Finder back on the shelf and started running his fingers over the other guns. "If you want something a little bigger, then the Tek Six is nice. It's a multi-shot, but it doesn't jam nearly as easily as the Maverick does." He paused. "Of course, last year Mike cut the ends off of a bunch of his darts to keep his Maverick from jamming, and it did okay, but I still wouldn't get it."

Jared just nodded, taking mental notes on everything Jensen said. Then he blinked as he glanced back at the shelves. "Um, Jensen, there's not a Tek Six here."

"I know. It's not Nerf, so they don't carry 'em at your friendly neighborhood Wall-to-Wal-Mart." He wiggled his eyebrows, making a point of looking down the aisles to make sure that none of the others could overhear him. "You have to go to an actual, real live toy store to hook up with most of the good stuff." He lowered his voice, leaning in to speak directly into Jared's ear. "Like the Double Shot."

For some strange reason the way Jensen said the name struck Jared as slightly dirty. "And what's a Double Shot?"

Jensen's eyes lit up and he even licked his lips. "I have three words for you, Jared: double barrel shotgun." He sighed, almost like he was talking about a hot girl instead of a toy gun. "And if you cut a bunch of darts in half, you can stuff them down the barrels and turn it into a scatter gun. So fucking cool."

Jared just shook his head with a quiet snort. "You want me to leave you alone with the guns for a minute, Jen? You look like you could use a little private time."

The glare Jensen flashed him was dirty, but other than that he made it a point to ignore Jared's dig. "There's also a Tek Ten, which is just like the Tek Six only with four more darts. It's also harder to cock, and it's not really worth the extra fire-power. Personally, I'd stick with the Six."

"Anything else I need to know?"

Jensen shrugged. "There's a Nerf Longshot, but it's not really all that useful for this, even though the idea of having a sniper rifle is pretty damn cool. And there's a blow gun, which does have the advantages of never jamming and being really quiet. It's also really bad for situations where you might need to run since it takes most of your air to fire the damn thing."

In the end Jared decided to go with a Nite Finder and one of the really small, almost pocket-sized one-shots (only to be used in the event of an emergency, of course), as well as a few packs of extra darts. He'd stop off at the local Kay Bee Toys later and grab a Tek Six, and probably one of those blow guns, no matter what Jensen said. After all, it would be good as a backup gun, and the idea of something that he would never need to worry about jamming on him was nice.

Plus, he just thought that the idea of a blow gun was seriously cool.

* * *

A week later Jared was sitting in one of the lecture halls with all of the other players, waiting for Mike to say whatever he needed to say before the game officially began. He was also trying to get in a little last minute studying before his calculus exam the next morning.

He jumped when a hand suddenly slapped the back of his head, and his elbow was flying back to slam into someone's stomach before he could even think.

"Damn, Padalecki, you've got some pointy elbows. That hurt."

Jared rolled his eyes as Chad dropped into the seat next to him rubbing his stomach. "Chad, sometimes you can be such a whiny bitch. I didn't hit you that hard, and besides you had it coming. You hit me first."

There was a decidedly feminine laugh from his left as Sandy slipped into one of the other empty seats. "You boys are such children. Are either of you ever going to grow up?"

Jared just grinned, throwing an arm around Sandy's shoulders. "Nope. Why would we wanna do something like that? Growing up's no fun."

Sandy shook her head in obvious exasperation, but any retort she was going to make was interrupted when Mike finally walked in the door and headed for the podium. "All right, everybody here? Good." He sat the Nerf gun he was carrying on the podium and pulled a jar full of slips of paper out of his backpack. "First things first: the rules."

Out of the corner of his eye Jared could see Chad mouthing along with Mike, and he elbowed Chad in the stomach again right before Mike turned to glare in their direction.

"As I was saying, the rules. All human players must wear their yellow arm bands at all times. The only exception is if you are on some sort of official business, either for work or class, in which case you take the arm band off so that no zombies will come after you. Likewise, all zombies must wear their yellow bandana on their heads at all times once the first zombie has bitten their first victim."

"Who's gonna be the first zombie anyway?"

Mike sighed as he turned to Tom. "I'm getting to that. As you leave everyone will pull a piece of paper out of this jar, and whoever gets the paper with the star on it is the first zombie. Do not tell anyone else whether you are the first zombie or not. No one should know who the first zombie is until after they have bitten their first victim."

"There's no actual biting involved, is there?"

Mike grinned at that interruption. "Only if you want to, Allie. And only if you're not biting me."

Allison pouted. "Aw, you're no fun, Mike. I really wanted to sink my teeth into you."

"Sorry, Allie, but I'm not on the menu." Mike just shook his head when Allison stuck her tongue out at him. "Back to the rules. Zombies must feed once every three days. If you haven't tagged someone in that time, you have starved to death and are out of the game. You cannot tag someone if they're in any of the official campus buildings, dorm rooms or the dorm bathrooms. Dorm hallways, however, are fair game."

Chad was back to mocking Mike when his back was turned, and Jared didn't even bother to hide his snort when Mike suddenly grabbed his gun and fired, hitting Chad right in the forehead. And when Chad's eyes nearly crossed as he tried to look up at the dart that was stuck to his head, Jared just closed his eyes and roared with laughter, leaning up against a madly giggling Sandy.

Mike calmly sat his gun back down and continued. "After you shoot a zombie they cannot feed for fifteen minutes. Also, you cannot shoot out from inside any buildings. If you can shoot them, they must be able to tag you. And you must be present on campus every day. That means no skipping out for days at a time to avoid being tagged." He glared at some of the people sitting in the back for a moment. "Any questions?"

When no one spoke, Mike clapped his hands and nodded. "All right then. Everyone grab one slip, and only one, on the way out. The first zombie may start at any time after eight in the morning tomorrow. And Chad? I'd like my dart back now."

* * *

The next morning Jared was almost bouncing around his dorm room as he got all of his game supplies together, though he was making a real effort to bounce quietly. While it was true that Jensen could sleep through almost anything, and actually had on occasion, Jared didn't want to take a chance that he would wake up, just in case Jensen was the first zombie and he decided to snack on him before he even had a chance to get out of the dorm.

He had already taken a shower, wanting to get that out of the way before the game started since he really didn't care for the idea of running around shooting people while wearing a towel. Oh, he knew that he had a reputation for being something of a goofball, but that was taking things just a little too far.

Jared double checked everything, making sure that he had one pack of his extra darts safely tucked into his backpack and that he had distributed one of the others here and there in his clothes, with darts tucked into all of his pockets and even a few held in his belt. Then he went over his guns, checking to be sure that his Tek Six was fully loaded and held securely in the outer pocket of his backpack and that the Nite Finder was working properly as well.

He had decided to leave the blow gun for later, figuring that once there were more zombies it might come in handy, especially if no one else knew that he had it. That was one of the things that Mike had been talking about that Jensen said was actually worth listening to: it was the smart people who survived. If you were smart, and thought things through properly, you stood a good chance of winning.

And Jared really, really wanted to win.

* * *

By the time lunch rolled around Jared was feeling a little silly about all of his preparations. He hadn't seen either hide or hair of a zombie, though if whoever had wound up as the first zombie hadn't tagged anyone yet then whoever it was still had their yellow bandana on their arm instead of on their head so he would have no way of knowing who they were.

He plopped his lunch tray down on the table and collapsed into a chair next to Sandy, taking a moment to glance over her tray and reach out to steal one of her cookies. The moment his hand touched the cookie she slapped the back of his head, grabbing her cookie with her other hand and pulling her tray away.

"Hands off the goods, Padalecki. If I didn't let you steal my food when we were dating, why on earth would I let you steal it now?"

Jared grinned, still reaching for the cookie. "Because I'm cute?"

Sandy stuck her tongue out and the stuffed the entire cookie in her mouth. "Not that cute." The words were muffled, and a few crumbs fell onto the table, but it was clear what she meant.

"You're mean." Jared poked cautiously at his mystery meat for a moment before shrugging and eating a forkful. "So, any idea who the first zombie is?"

"Chad."

At Sandy's matter-of-fact statement Jared nearly choked on his mystery meat. "Chad's the first zombie? How do you know?"

Sandy grinned smugly, licking her lips and leaning back provocatively in her chair. "What's it worth to you?"

Jensen suddenly appeared behind Sandy, tray in one hand while he patted her on the head with the other. "Chad tagged Kristen first thing this morning, and let me be the first to say that Kristen looks kind of odd with that yellow bandana in her hair and wearing one of those little cheerleader-esque outfits of hers."

Sandy pouted and slumped in her chair, arms crossed over her chest. "Way to ruin my fun, Ackles."

He grinned as he dropped into the chair across from her. "Sorry, sweetheart, but that's life."

Jared used Jensen's complete and total lack of attention to snatch his cookie and stuff it in his mouth. And when Jensen turned to stare at him he just grinned, cheeks puffed out with stolen dessert. "What?" The word was muffled, and Jared hastily swallowed. "What? And how'd Chad get Kristen so fast anyway?"

Jensen glared at him for a moment before answering. "Apparently he just walked up to her and threw an arm around her shoulders before she could get away. She never saw it coming."

Anything else he might have said was interrupted when the other Kristen slipped into the seat next to Jensen with a pointed look at his yellow arm band. "Why on earth you people feel the need to chase each other all around campus shooting at each other with foam darts every year I will never know. It's just not normal."

Jensen simply laughed, reaching over to tug at the blonde hair by her ear. "That's what you said last year, too. We like it, and it's fun. What better reason do we need?"

"I'm just saying that you could be doing something much more useful with your time. But instead you're skulking around bushes and climbing out of windows."

Sandy popped one end of a french fry in her mouth, curling her lips around it like a cigarette. "But what if I enjoy skulking around bushes and climbing out windows, Bell? It's...invigorating."

Kristen wrinkled her nose with a long suffering sigh. "I will never understand you people."

"So why do you keep trying?"

The look Kristen shot Sandy was withering. "I have no idea, McCoy. None whatsoever."

"Ah, you know you love us, Bell."

Kristen's expression grew even darker. "Right now, I know no such thing, Ackles. I really don't."

Jared shook his head as Jensen grinned, reaching over to ruffle Kristen's hair. And then he snorted with laughter when Kristen retaliated by slapping Jensen upside the head before elbowing him in the stomach. Jensen might be his best friend, but sometimes he was just asking for it.

* * *

Jared almost didn't see Kristen Kreuk in time to keep her from tagging him, just managing to get his gun up and a shot off as she dashed towards him from behind a tree. The dart hit her in the stomach when she was only about three feet away and already reaching for his arm.

"Damn it, Jared. I almost had you. Why couldn't you have stayed distracted for just another few seconds?"

He shrugged, breathing a quiet sigh of relief. If he'd been tagged this early in the game he would have never heard the end of it, especially from Jensen. "Sorry, Kristen. But I'd like to stay among the living for a little longer, if it's all the same to you."

"Yeah, well I wanted to stay alive for a while too, you know. Being a zombie's just not all it's cracked up to be." Her expression softened as she pouted, one hand going up to adjust her bandana. "And I hate wearing this thing in my hair. It's messing up my whole outfit."

Jared had to chuckle at that. "You knew you'd be wearing that before you signed up to play, so you have no one to blame but yourself. Besides, you should have gotten away from Chad faster."

The pout morphed into a fierce glare. "Laugh it up, puppy boy. Before this is all over, you'll get yours. I'm sure of it."

"You just keep thinking that, Kristen."

"Keep thinking what?"

Jared turned around in time to see Sophia stop jogging as she reached them, and shook his head when he noticed that she was keeping him between her and Kristen. "Don't worry, Sophia. She's safe for about another ten minutes, then someone will have to pop her again."

"Cool." Sophia slung an arm around Jared's waist, tucking her fingers into his belt loops. "So, what should she keep thinking, oh long lost twin brother of mine?"

"She thinks that because I was making fun of her that something bad is gonna happen to me."

Sophia sighed, bumping Jared with her hip as they walked. "Sometimes, Jared, you can be incredibly naive. Making fun of a girl will always come back to bite you on the ass later. Always. Now, come to the library with me and help carry my books. I've got a research paper due in two weeks, and I need to get started."

Jared just shook his head and let himself be dragged off, turning to flash a quick wave at Kristen. As much as he liked her, sometimes being Sophia's official long lost twin brother was about as much fun as watching paint dry.

* * *

Jared didn't see any other zombies for the rest of the day, which he thought was incredibly disappointing. He'd even gone so far as to just hang out in the quad for a couple of hours, making sure that everyone could see his yellow arm band, but all to no avail. Though no matter what Jensen said, he had definitely not come back to their dorm room that night pouting. Not even a little bit.

In fact, it wasn't until he was buying his breakfast in the cafeteria the next morning that he even caught a glimpse of another player, not counting Jensen of course. Since he was safely in a building he had let his guard down, and never even noticed Chad until the other man was right behind him, standing entirely too close and trying to look over his shoulder.

"So, I hear my girl almost got you yesterday, JareBear. You losing your touch or something?"

Jared's elbow jerked backwards almost without thought, slamming into Chad's stomach and making him wheeze quite satisfactorily. "I told you not to call me that, Mayhem. And does Kristen know you're going around calling her your girl? Better yet, does what's-her-name that you're actually dating know that you're going around calling Kristen your girl?"

Jared didn't even have to turn around to know that Chad was pouting, but he had also stopped futilely trying to loom over Jared's shoulder so he didn't really care. In fact, he made it a point to completely ignore Chad's presence until after they were both sitting at a table and he had taken a big bite of his toast. "What?"

Chad's pout intensified. "Come on, man. That's not buddies, threatening to go behind my back and tell the girls anything I've said. It's against the guy code."

Jared just barely managed to keep from snorting orange juice up his nose. "Dude, I'm pretty sure it's against the girl code to let your boyfriend do at least half of the things you do, so I wouldn't complain if I were you."

Chad continued to pout until Jared had finished his breakfast and picked up his tray. Then the pout disappeared, only to be replaced by what Chad probably thought was a subtle smirk. It was probably part of Jared's duties as one of Chad's only real friends to tell him that he was missing subtle by a mile, but even real friends had to get their laughs somewhere.

Jared was nearly at the main doors before it really occurred to him that Chad was following him. And once he realized that, it was only another few seconds before he figured out why and nearly smacked himself for not realizing it earlier. Chad was aiming to tag him the moment he stepped outside.

If it wasn't for the fact that he had a class that he absolutely couldn't miss starting in less than twenty minutes on the other side of campus, Jared would have been perfectly happy to just wander around in the university center until Chad finally realized that Jared was on to him. But since he couldn't do that, he'd just have to come up with something that was nearly as good.

He was relieved that he'd grabbed his pop gun on the way out of the dorm that morning and tucked the small weapon into the waistband of his pants where it was currently hidden by his slightly too large shirt. So he slipped his hand up under his shirt, pretending to scratch his stomach as he grabbed the gun while still trying to continue his conversation.

The instant they opened the doors to the main quad Jared dashed out, using his longer stride to get enough ahead of Chad that the other man couldn't actually touch him. Then he twisted around so that he was facing the doors, bringing his gun up and firing his only shot the moment that Chad cleared the doors. The dart sped through the air, hitting Chad in the chest with a quiet but still audible thwap.

Jared grinned at the almost heartbroken expression on Chad's face. "You thought you were gonna get me, didn't you? You thought you were gonna get me the same way you got Kristen."

Chad shook his head, the pout from earlier coming back with a vengeance. "Not quite the way I got her, but close enough. And I almost had you, too. Don't try to deny it."

Jared snorted, absently glancing around the quad to make sure that this wasn't really Chad's plan all along and Kristen wasn't waiting to slip out from the bushes and attack him. "Yeah, yeah. And you'd have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for those meddling kids."

Chad's pout intensified. "Oh, fuck you, Padalecki. I though you were supposed to be my friend."

For a moment all Jared could do was stand there blinking. Then he burst out laughing. "You know sometimes, Chad, you're really hilarious. Now, I'd love to hang around and soothe your bruised ego, but I have class. See ya." And with a final head shake Jared walked off, leaving a furiously pouting Chad standing in his wake.

* * *

Apparently Chad had decided to start stalking someone else since there was no sign of him when Jared got out of class. Of course, it was also possible that Chad was just trying harder to get the drop on him in an attempt to get back at Jared for earlier. Either way, Jared was taking no chances. His pop gun was once again tucked into the waistband of his jeans and his Nite Finder was loosely held in his free hand.

He was somewhat disappointed when he made it to his next class without any difficulties, but tried to console himself with the knowledge that as far as he knew there were still only two zombies and a fairly large campus for them to cover. Plus, now that he thought about it, he was pretty sure that Chad was in class too, unless he'd decided to skip it again which was certainly possible.

So he just sat down in his normal seat with a mental shrug. Unless Chad and Kristen were completely incompetent there would be more zombies soon enough, and then things would get more interesting. At least, he hoped they would.

He was pulled from his thoughts when Dr. Morgan walked in, dropped his notepad on the corner of his desk and then hopped up to sit next to it. "All right, where did we leave off last week?"

Before long all of Jared's attention was focused on Dr. Morgan's discussion of the underlying themes in Hamlet, so it took him completely by surprise when about half an hour after class started a Nerf dart came sailing in through the open window and hit Dr. Morgan right in the face.

For a long moment all Dr. Morgan did was blink, glasses sliding down his nose from the additional weight of the dart that was now stuck to the right lens. Then he slowly pulled his glasses off, looking at the dart with a confused expression on his face.

He glanced around the room, eyes finally focusing in on Jared's Nerf gun sitting on the floor by his desk. "Mr. Padalecki, could you give me an explanation for why I've just been shot with a children's toy in my own classroom?"

Jared's eyes went wide. "I didn't do anything, sir."

Morgan sighed, finally pulling the dart off of his glasses and tossing it towards him. "And I didn't say that you did, son. But since you also seem to be carrying one of those, it's logical to assume that you are involved in whatever this madness is."

"Um, well...." Jared squirmed slightly in his chair, uncomfortable with the sudden attention. "It's a game of zombies vs. humans, sir. I'd say that one of the humans was outside, trying to defend themselves and just missed."

One of Morgan's eyebrows went up as he glanced pointedly at the glasses still in his hand. "Really? Well, Mr. Padalecki, when you see your fellow human players again, please tell them to be more careful where they aim. I'd rather there weren't any more civilian casualties."

"Yes, sir." Jared slumped in his seat when Morgan finally turned back to his lecture. When he found out just who had shot the professor they were going to have words. Unless it was either Jensen or Mike, at which point he'd just bite his tongue. There were some lines that he really didn't care to cross.

No matter what Jensen said, Jared did actually have a sense of self-preservation. He just didn't always choose to utilize it.

* * *

By the time the day was over Jared still hadn't seen any sign of Chad or Kristen, and had no idea if whoever had been shooting during his lit class with Dr. Morgan had been tagged or not. Of course, he also had no idea just who it was that had accidentally shot Dr. Morgan which made trying to find out if he or she had been tagged or not kind of difficult.

He made sure to be extra vigilant once he got to the dorms, figuring that if the zombies were smart they were probably watching the building and just waiting for someone to drop their guard. But he made it into his and Jensen's room completely unchallenged, something that he couldn't help but be disappointed about. His borderline paranoia would probably come in handy later in the game, but for the moment it just made him feel silly.

Jensen was lounging on his bed, yellow bandana hung on the doorknob and several Nerf guns lying all over the floor. He glanced up when Jared walked in, flashing him a charming grin. "Hey, you're back. Listen, I need you to do me a favor tomorrow."

"What sort of favor?" Jared had learned early on in his friendship with Jensen never to agree to anything before he knew exactly what it was he was agreeing to. And to be especially suspicious if Jensen was trying to be charming and innocent.

Jensen just widened his eyes and stuck out his lower lip in a pout, completely ignoring Jared's unspoken implication. "I need you to be my bodyguard for about half an hour tomorrow afternoon."

Jared blinked. That was probably one of the odder things Jensen had ever asked him to do, and that was saying something. "Why the hell do you need a bodyguard?"

"Chris and I are gonna be performing in the quad, and it's kinda hard to hold a gun and a guitar at the same time."

Apparently Jared was missing something because that still didn't make sense. "This is a school-related thing, isn't it? You can just take your arm band off until after you finish."

Jensen shook his head, pout transforming into a sneer. "No way. I know it's not against the rules, but it just feels like cheating. Chris and I agreed; we don't want to step out of the game unless there's no other choice. And if you stand guard, then we won't have to."

Jared dropped his backpack and flopped onto his bed with a sigh. No matter how hard he tried to argue Jensen would get his way in the end. So it was better to just go ahead and give in now and save himself a lot of wasted time and effort.

"Fine, I'll play bodyguard. But you owe me."

Jensen reached over to slap Jared on the shoulder with a grin. "Sure thing, Padalecki. Just make sure you don't forget to collect. 'Cause that would just be embarrassing."

The balled up pair of socks made an excellent weapon, and Jared laughed when they smacked right into Jensen's face. Then the laugh turned into a shriek that wasn't in the least bit girly, no matter what Jensen said later, when the sock ball suddenly wound up in his face a bare moment before Jensen flung himself off of the bed and onto Jared.

The fight only lasted a couple of minutes, coming to an abrupt end when Jared overbalanced and fell off of the bed, landing with a thud on the floor and hitting the back of his head on the nightstand.

"Uh, Jensen, I don't think I'll make a very good bodyguard if you give me a concussion."

Jensen grimaced and reached down to pull Jared up. "Sorry about that, man. All evidence to the contrary, I wasn't actually trying to kill you or anything. After all, I still need you for tomorrow."

With a groan Jared pulled himself onto his bed and flopped over onto his back, aching head hanging down over the side. "Naturally. You can't kill me until you don't need me anymore."

Jensen flopped over next to him, hands behind his head. "Yeah, well. I'll probably always be able to come up with something I need you for, so don't worry."

After a long moment of silence, Jared chuckled. "You know, I think that's one of the nicest things you've ever said to me. Are you sure you didn't hit your head, too, man?"

"Funny, big guy. You're really damn funny." Jensen shoved at Jared's shoulder, but still made sure that he wasn't going to go falling off the bed again. "I try to say something nice to you, and you give me shit for it. See if I ever bother to be a nice guy again."

Jared grinned. "And that would be different, how?" He stared up at the ceiling for a moment in silence before speaking again. "Oh, by the way, someone shot Dr. Morgan with a Nerf gun in class today."

Jensen jerked and shifted to lean over Jared, eyes wide. "You're kidding. Someone in his class actually shot him?"

"Nope." Jared shook his head with a snort. "The dart came flying in through the window and hit him square in the face. It even got stuck to his glasses."

There was almost complete silence for a moment before Jensen practically fell off the bed laughing. "In the window? His glasses?"

Jared nodded, most of his attention focused on not letting Jensen knock him off the bed again. "Yep. Any idea who might have done it?"

"Ah, that was probably Tom. It sounds like something that would happen to him."

Jared snorted as he pulled himself closer to the middle of the bed. "Yeah, it does. Someone really needs to get that boy an off switch." He completely ignored the fact that several other people had said the exact same thing about him before.

* * *

The next afternoon Jared met Jensen at their dorm room right after lunch, still somewhat disappointed that the game seemed to be starting so slowly. Sure, he was happy that there weren't zombies coming out of the walls or anything, but it was kind of boring when there were only two, especially when one of those two was Kristen Kreuk. She was a nice enough girl, but not really that much of a tactical thinker.

Jensen was tightening his bandana around his arm when Jared walked in, and the moment he finished securing the yellow band he reached for his Tek Six and shoved it into Jared's hand. "Here, take mine, too. You'll look all scary and dangerous and the zombies won't even bother to try to take us. Plus, if they do decide to be stupid and try something, you'll have plenty of fire power to take 'em down."

Jared just sighed, dropping his backpack on the floor and pulling out his own Tek Six. "I still don't think this is necessary, man. As far as I know Chad and Kristen are still the only zombies, and this seems like overkill for just the two of them."

Jensen jerked his head up, a disapproving frown on his face. "Bite your tongue. There is no such thing as overkill in this game. Eventually you'll figure that out...or you'll wind up zombie chow." He grabbed his guitar and pushed himself up off the bed. "Now come on. We don't want to keep Chris waiting."

They made it out to the quad unopposed, and while Jensen and Chris got themselves all set up Jared just stood around and tried to look intimidating. His height certainly helped in that regard, but he thought that the faintly mocking smile on his face probably canceled it out. Plus there was the fact that he was playing bodyguard for a couple of borderline-brooding musicians. All right, so they didn't really brood (at least not very often), but the visualization worked anyway.

But as silly and unnecessary as he thought it was, Jared still kept his eyes peeled for zombies while Jensen and Chris warmed up. In the event that he was somehow mistaken, it simply wouldn't do to not pay attention and wind up having some too smart zombie tagging Jensen or Chris. That was the sort of thing that Jared might not survive intact, and even if he did, he probably would wish that he hadn't.

Once they started playing for real even more people stopped to listen, making Jared's job that much harder. The bandanas might be a really obnoxious shade of yellow, but they were still pretty hard to spot in a thick crowd. And whenever Chris and Jensen played, the crowd was always thick.

He had one of the guns in his right hand, held loosely enough that his hand wouldn't cramp but not so much that he was in danger of dropping it. The other was resting on the nearby bench where it would be easy to reach if he needed it. If he had to be keeping watch he'd rather have a gun in each hand, but since he needed one hand free to cock them it just wasn't feasible.

Which was a shame, since he thought he might look slightly less dorky if he had a gun in each hand. Or he might just look like an incredible loser. Either way, the point was completely moot.

They were a little more than half-way through their pre-designated set when Jared caught a glimpse of a very familiar shade of yellow out of the corner of his eye. He tried to keep it in sight without moving his head, hoping that whoever it was didn't know that they had been seen yet.

It wasn't until they had begun making their way carefully through the crowd that Jared realized just who it was. Chad was easing between people and keeping his head down in what Jared figured was an attempt to keep anyone from noticing him. When the game was finally over, Jared might just have to let Chad know that his attempts at subtlety sucked, a lot.

He let his lips curl up in a smug grin when he realized that Chad was trying to sneak in behind Jensen and Chris, obviously planning on tagging them in the back. He kept facing forward as Chad moved even closer so as not to let on to Chad that he'd been spotted. And then, when Chad was almost close enough to touch the others and he finally had a clear shot, Jared twisted around and raised his gun, letting off two shots in quick succession.

Chad yelped at the sudden movement, loudly swearing when the two darts hit him in the chest right before he could manage to tag Jensen. "Padalecki! This is so not fucking fair."

Jared just laughed, especially since Jensen and Chris hadn't bothered to stop playing. "Chad, you tried to sneak up and get them in the back. You don't really have a leg to stand on talking about things not being fair. Besides, the goal of the game isn't to be fair. The goal is to win."

With a bit more almost unintelligible muttering Chad stomped off, probably either to plot his revenge or post some more emo poetry on his online blog. Chad didn't think that Jared knew about his bad poetry habit, but Jared was just saving the information for a rainy day.

After all, you never knew when you might need a little blackmail material, and Chad's poetry was absolute gold.

A moment later, though, Jared's grin faded as he realized something. As soon as Jensen and Chris were finished with their performance, Jensen was going to take great pleasure in rubbing Jared's nose in the fact that Jensen had been right and Jared had been wrong. Jared grimaced as he turned back to looking over the crowd. Jensen was always so obnoxious when he was gloating.

Which meant that between Jensen's gloating and Chad's emo pouting, it was going to be a long day.

* * *

Sandy was not in a good mood. She had overslept, been late to her first class and then had a pop quiz in the second. And all of this on a day when she hadn't had a chance to get her morning caffeine fix since the coffee shop on campus currently had a broken espresso machine. What the hell was the point of having a coffee shop if you couldn't keep the espresso machine working?

And then to make matters even worse, the moment she stepped out of the library she came face to face with Kristen Kreuk.

"Oh, perfect." While she really wasn't in the mood to deal with anything even relating to the zombie game, she wanted to lose even less. So she hitched her backpack higher on her shoulder and took off running, Kristen in hot pursuit.

She dodged around several small groups of students who were apparently too stupid to get out of her way and tried to swing her backpack around so that she could get into the front pocket and grab her gun. She managed to get it up against her chest and the zipper undone before her right foot slipped out from under her and she went tumbling to the ground, thankfully in a patch of fairly thick grass.

"Fuck!" Sandy managed to pull herself back up to her feet and was about to take off running again when a hand settled on her arm and Kristen was leaning over her shoulder.

"You okay, Sandy? That looked like quite a fall."

Sandy growled as she turned to glare at Kristen, pulling her arm band off with a sharp yank. "Yeah, I'm just peachy, except for the whole becoming one of the undead part. The game's been going on for what, two days now? And I've already been tagged." She shoved her hair behind her ears and stalked off, still muttering under her breath.

"Sophia's never gonna let me hear the end of it, and let's not even think about Jared just yet. This is so embarrassing."

A moment later she groaned, seriously considering just ducking into whichever building was closest and hiding. Jared was headed straight towards her, Nerf gun in one hand and what looked suspiciously like a coffee cup in the other. It was only the sight of the cup that made Sandy change her mind, and she walked straight up to him in silence, holding one hand up while she grabbed his coffee with the other.

"Um, Sandy? What are you doing?"

She glared up at him before taking a long gulp of the still hot coffee. "Not another word, Padalecki. I've had a really shitty day, and the more you talk the worse it gets."

Jared, showing an incredible sense of self-preservation that most people would deny that he had, kept his mouth shut and simply let Sandy drink his coffee in silence. It was just safer that way, for everyone involved.

He waited until she handed the empty cup back to him to try talking to her again. "Feel better now, Sandy?"

She looked up at him in silence for a moment, head cocked to the side in apparent thought. "Yes, I do. Even though I've just been turned into a member of the walking undead. It turns out that everything really is better with coffee, even zombification."

Jared blinked in confusion. "Is that even a word?"

Sandy shrugged, dropping her backpack so that her hands were free to take her bandana and tie it around her head. "If it wasn't before, it is now. And that's all that matters to me. Now if you'll excuse me, I have about ten minutes before I'm going to start craving brains and I'd rather not eat yours first thing. It might give me indigestion." She picked her bag back up and frowned thoughtfully. "In fact, I think I'll start with Sophia."

* * *

Sophia had just stepped out of the English building when she noticed Sandy standing a few yards away, blocking the sidewalk and wearing her yellow bandana on her head instead of around her arm like she had been earlier. She glanced quickly back towards the door, cursing under her breath when she realized that it had closed behind her so there was no real way that she would be able to get back inside before Sandy could tag her. Plus she had another class in less than ten minutes that she really didn't want to have to skip.

She could always try to outrun the other girl, but with a pack full of books on her back Sophia was pretty sure that even her longer legs wouldn't be able to save her. This meant that she was going to have to somehow either manage to shoot Sandy with the gun that was currently in her backpack or come up with something else.

Sandy was grinning as Sophia walked slowly and carefully towards her before beginning to side step in an attempt to get around her. Sandy automatically mirrored her movements so that they were slowly circling each other, both of them completely ignoring the growing crowd around them.

"Poor Sophia, all alone and unarmed. Whatever will you do?"

Sophia grinned, trying to unobtrusively reach into her pocket for some of her extra darts. Since she couldn't shoot Sandy, she'd just have to throw the darts at her instead. It wasn't quite as accurate as using a gun, but it wasn't against the rules and it was the only thing she could think of.

"What, you think you can take me, McCoy? Bring it on. I'm not scared of you." She bent her knees slightly and extended her free hand, wiggling her fingers in the universal sign for 'come and get me.' "What are you waiting for?"

"I'm waiting for you to do the smart thing and just give up." Sandy's smirk was bordering on smug as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "After all, I'm gonna get you either way."

Sophia snorted at that. "Yeah, sure you are. You think you're so tough? Come and get me. After all, I can do this all day." Of course, if she wanted to make it to her next class she couldn't, but Sandy didn't need to know that.

The two girls continued to circle each other, Sandy trying to subtly move closer and Sophia carefully moving away at the same time. The people nearby weren't getting too close, but the crowd was continually growing.

"Whoa, cool. Chick fight! That's so hot."

Sophia had no idea just who in the gathered crowd had said that, but it had distracted Sandy and she took her shot. She jerked her hand out of her pocket, and flung the handful of darts as she ran at Sandy. Almost all of the darts missed, but one smacked directly into Sandy's chest right before the other girl managed to grab Sophia's arm.

"Hah! I told you that you couldn't take me, and I was right." Sophia grinned widely at Sandy's disappointed pout. "I didn't even need to have my gun out to kick your ass, McCoy." She quickly knelt down to grab her darts and shoved them back in her pocket as she got back to her feet. "Anyway, I'd love to stay and gloat but I've got to book. Don't wanna be late."

Then she turned and dashed off, Sandy's final shout echoing in her ears. "I'm going to get you, Bush. When you least expect it, I'll be waiting for you."

Sophia just chuckled, twisting around just enough to flip Sandy off. Sandy could threaten all she wanted to, but Sophia wasn't going down that easily. Not this time.

* * *

Later that afternoon Jared was holed up in the library, trying without much success to do research for his European History paper. He knew what he wanted to do with the paper, but most of the books he needed were missing in action with no sign of where they were. According to the computer records they hadn't been checked out, which meant that either someone else was using them at the moment, or some poor library drone had shelved them in the wrong place. Either way, his paper was going absolutely nowhere.

He leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms up over his head in an attempt to work some of the kinks out of his back that came from hunching over a table for entirely too long at a time. And as he stretched, he caught a glimpse of bright yellow out of the corner of his eye. He blinked, then shrugged as he rose quietly to his feet. From the quick glimpse he'd caught it had looked like Kristen, and more to the point it had looked like she was trying to be sneaky.

He followed her carefully, trying his best to be unobtrusive and silently cursing every time he had to duck back behind a bookshelf to avoid being seen. It was times like this that he was especially thankful that the bookshelves in the campus library were so damn tall, which sort of made up for the fact that whenever any of the girls he knew caught him in the library they would always make him get books from the top shelf for them, even going so far as to ask for books that they didn't need.

Pulling his mind back to the present Jared crept after Kristen, jerking back behind the nearby shelf when he noticed just who it was that she was meeting. Chad was already there, bandana prominently displayed on his head in a way that Jared thought was supposed to look tough, but only served to make Chad look sort of cheesy.

"Great. Now all we're waiting on is Sandy. Where is she, anyway?"

Kristen shrugged as she dropped gracefully into the chair across from Chad. "How should I know? Do I look like her social planner or something? She'll get here when she gets here. What's so important that we had to get together here anyway, Murray?"

"We need to come up with some sort of plan, that's what's so important." Chad sighed, running a hand over his head. "In case you haven't noticed, us zombies aren't doing too well so far, and I intend to shake things up a bit. I just haven't figured out how yet."

Jared slipped further into the aisle to make sure that neither of them could see him. Hopefully, when Sandy arrived she wouldn't notice him either, and he could continue to spy on them. He wasn't overly concerned with random people running across him, since Chad (or at least, he assumed it was Chad since he really doubted that it was Kristen) had chosen one of the least trafficked areas in the library for his little strategy meeting.

Though if somebody did need to come back there for some reason and saw him skulking around behind the books, it would be seriously embarrassing. And make him look vaguely stalker-like, which was definitely not a good thing. Especially since it would make Jensen laugh at him, which was something that he really tried to avoid.

He ducked even further down when he heard footsteps approaching, breathing a silent sigh of relief when it turned out to be Sandy, who was apparently in something of a hurry. She headed straight for Chad's table, never even bothering to glance around her as she practically jogged past the shelves.

"So, Chad, tell me why the hell I had to come and meet you here and do it fast. Unlike some people who shall not be named, I have a life."

Jared grinned. Sandy was normally one of the sweetest people he'd ever met, but if you caught her on a bad day, which Chad evidently had, she could be a super bitch. Which, he had to admit, was really kind of hot, even if they weren't dating anymore. Maybe even especially since they weren't dating anymore.

"I'm so sorry if I'm keeping you from something terribly important, Sandra."

Sandy just snorted derisively. "Cut the crap, Chad, and just tell me why you wanted me here so I can go away again."

"Fine, if you're going to be such a bitch about it," Chad huffed. "We need to get organized, or we're gonna starve to death the first week. And I don't know about you, but I don't want to go down in history as the lamest zombies ever to fail to wreak havoc on campus."

Sandy rolled her eyes. "You are taking this game way too seriously, Murray. I mean it. You're about this close to needing an intervention." She raised her hand, forefinger and thumb only about an inch apart. "You need help, Murray. Not that it's news or anything."

Kristen snickered, hiding her grin behind her hand when Chad jerked around to stare at her. "What? She's right, you know. You do need help."

Jared chuckled, then bit back a curse as three sets of eyes were suddenly focused on the shelf he was hiding behind. He quietly got his feet under him, backing slowly down the aisle when it looked like Sandy was going to come investigate the noise he'd made. Then let out a silent sigh of relief when she shook her head and flopped back into one of the chairs.

"I thought I heard something, but it's probably nothing." Sandy groaned, and there was the unmistakable sound of someone repeatedly banging their head on the table. "Look, Chad, just wait outside the door when Tom gets out of class and grab him the minute he's through it. That boy's running absolutely everywhere, and I don't think he's showered since the game started, so that's the only time you're likely to get him. And do yourself a favor: don't tell me to come to any more of these stupid strategy sessions."

From the tone of her voice, Jared was pretty sure that Sandy was leaning over the table right in Chad's face, probably almost close enough to bite his nose off if she wanted to, and she more than likely looked like she did. And from the noises Chad was making, she was probably baring her teeth, too.

He stayed crouched in his hiding place until he saw Sandy stalk back down the aisle, heading for the stairwell. After waiting for another minute, just to make sure that Sandy was gone and the other two weren't getting ready to leave, he eased towards the far side of the shelves and made his way back towards the doors, making sure to stay out of sight of Chad's table. He hadn't gained any really important information in his little spying attempt, but it had still been fun. Especially since he hadn't gotten caught.

* * *

Everything was quiet, too quiet, as Jared made his way slowly down the hallway towards his dorm room. The entire building seemed empty, and just slightly darker than normal. He tightened his grip on his gun, very firmly telling himself that everything was perfectly fine and he was just being a pussy. There was absolutely nothing to be scared of. Nothing at all.

But the closer he got to his room, the less he believed himself and the more he started to think that something might actually be wrong. And when he finally made it to his dorm, he couldn't quite force himself to open the door. He wasn't sure how, but he knew that there was something on the other side of the door that he didn't want to see.

A sound from down the hall caught his attention, and he glanced back over his shoulder just in time to see Sandy and Sophia shambling down the hallway, eyes blank and unfocused and bodies occasionally bumping into the walls. He must have made some sort of noise, because they both turned to face him and then slowly began to amble in his direction.

Jared could hear his pulse pounding in his ears as he fumbled with his key, deciding that whatever was behind the door wasn't as bad as staying out in the hall with what looking frighteningly like the zombie versions of two of his best friends. They were almost on him by the time he managed to get the door open and dashed inside, practically slamming the door closed in their faces.

He leaned back against the door and closed his eyes, trying and failing to get his breathing under control. There was an eery groaning sound from the other side of the room, and Jared opened his eyes.

Jensen was lying on his bed, body positioned so that his head was hanging down by the foot and one arm reaching across the bed while the other dangled towards the floor. His eyes were open and staring, and what looked suspiciously like a huge bite mark marred the skin of his neck.

All Jared could do was stare in horror until Jensen's obviously dead body suddenly began to move. Then Jared screamed.

And woke up still screaming, sitting upright in bed with a very alive, and very irritated, Jensen staring at him from the other bed. "Dude, you okay?"

Jared's breathing was rapid, and he knew that if he held his hand out that it would be shaking but he nodded anyway. The absolute last thing he wanted was for Jensen to make fun of him for his nightmare, tell him that he was taking things way too seriously and that he should stop internalizing things.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Jen. Go back to sleep."

From Jensen's expression it was pretty clear that he didn't believe him. "You sure, Jared? 'Cause you don't sound okay to me."

Jared nodded, forcibly unclenching his fists and trying to look like he wasn't still terrified. "I'm sure. Probably just had some bad pizza or something."

Jensen cocked an eyebrow at him, but manfully refrained from mentioning that Jared hadn't had pizza in days, which Jared was sure was on the tip of his tongue. "If you say so. But try not to scream any more, okay? Some of us need our beauty sleep."

It was difficult, but Jared managed to dredge up a small smile. "I'm glad you're finally admitting it, Jensen. There is nothing wrong with needing a little extra work to look as good as I do, and it's good that you're comfortable with that."

It was a weak attempt at humor, but Jensen seemed willing to let it go, for which Jared was extremely thankful. "Yeah, laugh it up, funny guy. Now I'm going back to sleep. I've got an exam in the morning, and I don't want to fall asleep in the middle."

Jared watched silently as Jensen reached over and clicked the light off again before burrowing back under his blankets. He took a deep, slightly calming breath and forced himself to lie back down, pulling his blanket up around his hunched shoulders. It would probably take about an hour, but he should eventually be able to get back to sleep. Whether that sleep would be free from more nightmares, however, was a whole other story.

* * *

He woke up in the morning still somewhat tired but thankful that there hadn't been any repeats of his rather disturbing nightmare. He shoved the pillow off of his head, absently wondering just when he had decided that it was better to sleep under the pillow than on top of it. Then he ran a hand through his messy hair and glanced over towards Jensen's bed just in time to see the other man slipping out of the window.

Jared blinked in confusion, rubbing his eyes and staring at the still-open window. "I'm not still asleep, am I?"

After a long moment he finally forced himself to get out of bed and grab his things so that he could go take a shower. And when he opened the door, he realized just why Jensen had decided to slip out through the window. Chad was lounging in the hallway, leaning against the wall just a few feet from their doorway.

Jared sighed, shoulders slumping as he turned around and closed the door again before flopping back onto his bed. He really wanted a shower, but he also really didn't want to deal with Chad at the moment either.

Eventually he decided that getting a shower wasn't that important, so he just slipped on a clean pair of jeans and a t-shirt, taking a minute to make sure that his arm band was tied around his bicep properly. Then he stuffed his wallet in his back pocket, grabbed his backpack and his Nerf gun and headed for the window.

He glanced around carefully, making sure that no one was looking, then dropped his backpack onto the grass and just barely managed to get out the window and onto the ground without getting his feet caught on the sill and falling on his head. It was times like this that he was incredibly thankful that his and Jensen's room was on the first floor of the building.

He headed around the front of the building, checking his watch to see if he had time before his first class started to go get a really large cup of coffee. Just as he got within sight of the main doors Tom came shooting out at a dead run, Chad following in hot pursuit and Kristen suddenly appearing from around the corner.

With a sigh Jared took off after them. At the moment he was really too damn tired to be excited that he was finally seeing some action, but he couldn't just let Tom fend for himself either. Even if he really wanted to.

He got his gun up and hit Kristen in the back, but by the time he got close enough to shoot Chad he had already managed to tag Tom on the shoulder, and all Jared could do was make sure that Chad wouldn't be able to tag him, too. So he cocked his gun again and shot Chad in the shoulder just as the other man was turning around to face him.

"Sorry, Tom. I tried to get him in time, but he had too much of a head start."

Tom shook his head, staring at Chad in shock even though he was talking to Jared. "Not your fault, man. And hey, at least you tried."

The expression on Tom's face was so pathetic, rather like someone had kicked his puppy, that Jared really felt bad for him. "You want me to break the news to Mike for you?"

Tom shook his head. "No, but thanks anyway. I'll just have to take my lumps like a man."

Jared, Chad and Kristen all blinked at that. "I really hope you mean that figuratively, big guy. And if you don't, I really don't wanna know." Jared glanced down at his watch and cursed. "And now I've got to get going, or I'm gonna be late for class. See you later." He took off running. The last thing he wanted to do was explain to his professor that he was late because of a zombie attack.

And he didn't even have a chance to get his coffee.

* * *

The next afternoon Sophia was heading to the library when she ran into Sandy again. Since she really didn't feel like running all over campus being chased by a zombie, she decided to take the offensive. She pulled her gun, cocked it and ran towards Sandy, who had just noticed her.

The other girl managed to dodge the first dart Sophia shot, sidestepping so that she could duck behind one of the larger trees. "You're going down this time, Sophia. I'm not letting you get away again."

Sophia grinned, trying to slip around behind Sandy. "Oh, yeah? You and what army, McCoy?"

Sandy faked left then dashed to the right, only missing Sophia's arm by a few inches. "What do I look like, Chad? Who needs an army? I can take you all by myself."

"I think you're all talk. How long until you starve to death anyway? Shouldn't be too long now." Sophia cocked her gun again and leaned sideways so that she could get off another shot.

But Sandy ducked and the dart sailed harmlessly over her head. "Is that all you've got? I could take you down with one hand tied behind my back."

Sophia snorted. "Then why haven't you? I'm starting to think you're all talk, McCoy. If you think you're so good, then come and get me."

Sandy grinned, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet for a moment before shooting forward. She ducked under another dart and lunged at Sophia, arms around the other girl's waist and shoulder slamming into her stomach. They both lost their balance and toppled over in a tangle of limbs with Sophia on the bottom and Sandy lying across her chest.

After taking a moment to get her breath back Sandy pushed herself up and grinned down at Sophia, completely ignoring the crowd that was gathering around them. "Ha! I told you I could take you down. Welcome to the walking undead."

* * *

"Okay, guys. Mike is going to be getting out of class tonight in less than two hours, and according to our intel a whole group of zombies is going to be waiting for him outside." Jensen hopped up onto the table, flashing the group a bright smile as he began swinging his legs. "And we are going to be waiting for them."

Chris leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. "All right, Jenny boy. What's the plan?"

Jensen stopped swinging his legs for a moment and glared at Chris. "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?"

Chris just grinned. "At least once more. Just like always."

With a quiet growl Jensen turned away from Chris. "Anyway, back to the plan. We will be leaving in half an hour so that we can be in the building before the zombies get there. And when Mike gets out of class we'll break through the blockade."

There was complete silence for a long moment before Jared hesitantly spoke. "Um, Jen? As far as plans go, that one's kinda vague."

Jensen grinned. "Yep. The best plans are the vague ones. After all, that way they have fewer details that can go spare."

One of Jared's eyebrows went up. "Uh huh. Whatever."

Jensen's lips curled into a pout. "I'm serious. Besides, I can't come up with a proper plan until I see what the zombies have planned." The pout turned into a sly grin. "After all, remember what Mike always says...."

Jared rolled his eyes, but chanted along with the others. "Proper preparation prevents piss-poor performance."

"Exactly. So, let's head out, and we'll work up a more specific plan once we see what we're up against." Jensen clapped his hands, hopped off the table and headed for the door, never bothering to look back and see if anyone was following him.

Jared just sighed, double checked his gun and started after Jensen with a rueful shake of his head. Sometimes he thought that being Mike's unofficial second in command was going to Jensen's head. Other times, he knew for sure that it was.

They made it to the engineering building without any problems, and Jensen commandeered one of the empty classrooms since he didn't seem to want all of them hanging around in the entrance hall, though Jared privately thought that it was just a ploy to keep anyone from wandering off.

Finally, when it was almost time for Mike's class to end Jensen sent Jared out to scout around the building and see where the zombies were and just how many of them had shown up. And it only took Jared a few minutes to realize that they had a bit of a problem.

The engineering building was one of the only buildings on campus that only had three exits, two of which were easily within sight of the others. Kristen, Sandy and two of the others were hanging around the back door, yellow bandanas clearly visible even in the fading sunlight.

And when Jared checked the two doors on the other side of the building he had to bite back a curse. A whole group of zombies was milling around in between the two doors, lead by Chad, Tom and Sophia. And no matter which door they chose, it would only take one shout for the other zombies to swarm all over them.

However, when he told Jensen, the other man just grinned, rubbing his hands together in glee. "Ah, a challenge. I haven't had one of those in way too long. It's always fun when the zombies get a brain and start doing some actual tactical thinking."

While Jared stood there and blinked Chris was shaking his head with a pitying expression on his face. "Someone's been hitting you in the head again, haven't they, son? That's the only explanation for why you think a zombie blockade is a good thing."

Jensen casually flipped Chris off, manic grin never leaving his face. "You're just not getting it, Kane. This is exciting, it's fun, it gets the blood pumping." He raised an eyebrow and sent a pointed glance at the other man's groin. "Which might explain just why you aren't getting it."

Chris reached over and smacked Jensen on the back of the head while the others laughed. "It's not nice to talk about your elders that way, boy. Especially when your elders are more heavily armed than you are."

Jensen sneered at him, but still backed off. "Anyway, here's the plan, and feel free to make suggestions if you have any good ideas." He turned to stare pointedly at Allison. "Good ideas, not crummy ones."

Allison stuck her tongue out at him and crossed her eyes. "Just tell us, oh fearless leader, what is this wonderful plan of yours and are any of us going to survive it?"

Jensen pointedly ignored Allison's snarky comment, though Jared could tell that he was itching to snark back. "First off, we need someone to hold the front door open. Once we get out of the building we can head for the university center. Since it's got so many exits there's no way the zombies can watch them all, and we should be able to shoot most of them on the way there anyway."

Jared sighed at the look Jensen was sending him. "Fine, I'll hold the door open."

Jensen grinned and clapped him on the back. "Excellent. Those freakishly long arms of yours will finally come in handy for something."

"Yeah, finally." Jared tried not to sound like he was grumbling, but he could tell that he wasn't completely successful. "So, what's the rest of the plan?"

"Simple." Jensen hopped off the desk and started pacing around the room. "Once the doors are open Allison and Chris will run straight out and try to get behind the zombies. Feel free to shoot on the fly, and make sure to yell out when you hit someone so we'll know they're safe."

Chris snorted. "Boy, that sounds an awful lot like a suicide run to me. And I'm not sure I like that."

"You got a better idea, Kane?" Jensen waited until the other man shook his head, then smiled. "If we do this fast enough they'll never know what hit 'em. You and Allie should be just fine so long as you keep your heads."

With a long suffering sigh, Chris nodded. "Fine. Now, what's the rest of your wonderful plan, Ackles?"

Jensen just stared at Chris for a long moment, then nodded and resumed his pacing. "Once you two are outside the other zombies will more than likely hear the commotion and come running. That's when me and Mike will come out and get them in the back while they're focused on you two. And once we're outside Jared will watch our backs."

Allison hopped up on the desk and began swinging her legs. "Well, it sounds like it might work. So long as nothing goes wrong, that is."

Jared closed his eyes with a groan. "Now you've done it, Allie. Why the hell did you have to say that?"

She shrugged with an embarrassed smile. "Sorry. I guess I just wasn't thinking. I'm sure everything will be fine, though."

"Everything was going to be fine, Allie. Now, not so much." Jensen shook his head. "Someone remind me to tell Mike that next time we need to include a section in the strategy lecture on things to never, ever say before a major offensive."

Before Allison and Jensen could get into yet another verbal sparring match, Chris interrupted. "Uh, guys? I hate to break up the beginnings of a lovely argument, but shouldn't someone head out into the hall to wait for Mike? Otherwise, this whole party will be kinda useless."

Jared had to press his lips together to keep from laughing at the pissy expression on Jensen's face at Chris's interruption. "Thank you for volunteering, Chris. Once you snag him, bring him back here so we can go over the plan again with him before we make a break for it."

Chris shook his head as he lazily headed for the door. "You know, boy, it's starting to sound like you think you're actually in charge of us. You might wanna watch that before you get so far in over your pretty little head that you can't get back out again." Then he slipped out into the hall, leaving the room in an uncomfortable silence.

Jared was managing to hold back his laughter until he glanced over at Allison, who was visibly biting her lip and had her eyes clenched shut. Her expression finally set him off, and he just gave in and threw his head back and laughed, Allison following suit only a moment later.

When he finally got control of himself and opened his eyes he had to shove down a fresh wave of laughter at the image of Jensen, hands on his hips and lips turned down in a disapproving frown.

"I get no respect anymore. You try to do your best for them, try to give them the benefit of your vast experience, and what do they do? They laugh at you."

Jared and Allison looked at each other, then turned identical innocent smiles at Jensen. "Sorry, Daddy." They spoke completely in unison, heads cocked just slightly to the side and eyes wide.

Jensen shuddered. "That's just not natural. Don't do that, okay? You keep doing that and I'm gonna have to kick your asses, and I really hate having to hit girls."

Jared's eyes narrowed and he was about to tell Jensen exactly what he thought of him, and probably mention a few things that he didn't actually think about him at all, when the door opened and Chris and Mike walked in. He settled for sneering at Jensen, figuring that he'd just have to get his revenge later, when Jensen wasn't expecting it. That would be more fun, anyway. For him at least.

Mike was rubbing his hands together with a somewhat manic grin on his face. "So, what's this I hear about a blockade run?"

Jared had to fight to keep from sighing again, as ever since they'd started this game he had been sighing entirely too much and that just wasn't healthy. It was hard though, since Mike and Jensen's increasingly erratic behavior was really getting on his nerves.

Allison, on the other hand, snorted. "Yeah. We're all Luke Skywalker, and we're here to rescue you."

Jensen flashed her a dirty look while Chris and Jared just laughed. "No more comments from the peanut gallery. I mean it."

Allison grinned and touched two fingers to the brim of an imaginary hat in salute. "Whatever you say, boss."

"Why don't I believe that, Mack?"

She wrinkled her nose at him playfully. "Because you're smarter than you look?"

Jensen turned his back on her with a growl, and glared at Jared before he could even open his mouth. "And no smart comments from you, either. Remember, I know where you sleep."

Jared held his hands out, eyes wide and mouth turned up in an innocent grin. "What? I didn't say a thing. Did anyone else hear me say anything?"

Allison and Chris both shook their heads and grinned, but Jensen just glared harder. "I could hear what you were thinking, smart guy. Now, if you all are quite finished undermining my authority, let's go over the plan again for Mike."

The minute Jensen turned his back on them Jared leaned over to whisper in Allison's ear. "Just what authority does he think we're undermining, anyway? He doesn't have any authority to undermine."

Allison shrugged with a grin. "No clue. After this is all over, someone's gonna need to knock him back down a peg or two."

By the time they turned their attention back to Jensen he had already finished telling Mike about the still-slightly vague plan and everyone was arming up. Jared tucked his popgun in his waistband, cocked his Tek Six and headed for the door, checking his shoes as he walked to make sure they were tied properly. Getting tagged in front of everyone because he tripped over a loose shoelace would be entirely too embarrassing.

Allison was carrying two guns as well, Mike seemed to have three and Chris was busy stuffing cut-off darts into what could only be the double-barrel shotgun that Jensen had been nearly orgasmic over. Jared just shook his head.

"All right, everybody ready?" When they all nodded, Jensen grinned. "Then let's get the hell out of here, boys and girls. Jared, if you would be so kind as to get the door?"

Jared flipped him a casual salute and headed for the hallway, everyone else following behind him. He glanced out the window once he reached the door, nodding when he saw that nothing had changed since the last time he'd looked outside. "Okay, guys. Opening the door now."

The instant he had the door open Allison and Chris charged out, Chris firing his Double Shot into the larger group of zombies before dropping it in the grass and pulling one of his other guns. And by the time they were almost behind the milling zombies three of them had been shot and the other group of zombies was just turning the corner from the back of the building and approaching at a dead run.

"Jensen, we've got zombies three down out here, but they've got reinforcements."

Jensen clapped him on the shoulder and grinned. "Oh, yeah. This is what I'm talking about. Once we're out, cover us." Then he and Mike dashed outside, firing wildly into the hoard of zombies. Once the two of them were clear of the door Jared jumped into the fray, heading straight for Sandy and Kristen.

He managed to shoot Kristen fairly easily, hitting her in the back while she was focused on Allison. And from what he could hear, Tom and Chad had also been hit, taking them out of the offensive. Which, unfortunately, still left several zombies.

A moment of inattention almost got him tagged, and it was only his quick reflexes that kept Sophia from getting her hands on him as he just barely managed to twist out of the way. He jerked the popgun out of his waistband and fired it, not wanting to take the extra few seconds to cock the Tek Six, and managed to hit Sophia in the chest right before she reached for him again.

"Humans, disengage and run!"

Mike's voice was loud and commanding, and Jared almost instinctively began to run, heading for the university center just as they had planned. It only took a couple of minutes to get there as fast as they were running, the few still-active zombies on their tail the entire time. Once they were in sight of the building Jared pulled ahead, smacking the button that automatically opened the doors and rushing inside the instant the doors were open enough.

Allison skidded in a moment later, leaning with her back against the wall as she tried to catch her breath. Jensen followed almost immediately behind her with Mike bringing up the rear. The zombies pulled to a sudden stop just outside the doors, most of them audibly cursing at the fact that their prey was safely indoors.

"Um, Jensen, where's Chris?"

Jensen grimaced, bent forward with his hands braced on his knees as he panted for breath. "I don't think he made it. I'm pretty sure I saw someone tag him just before we made a break for it."

"Oh, is he gonna be pissed. None of us will ever hear the end of it."

Jensen turned to glare at Mike. "No, I'll never hear the end of it. After all, it was my plan, which means that he's going to blame it on me."

"He knew it wasn't going to be a cakewalk, and he did it anyway. He even called it a suicide run. He has no one to blame but himself...and maybe whoever tagged him." Jared was trying to calm Jensen down since it wouldn't be fun in their room later if he was still beating himself up, but so far it didn't seem to be working.

"I'm still never gonna hear the end of it."

Jared sighed, thinking really loudly that apparently he wasn't going to hear the end of it, either. "Come on. Let's get back to the dorms before the zombies regroup and come after us again. Most of them should still be out of the game for about five more minutes."

Jensen ran a hand over his head and nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right. Let's all head out. And make sure you watch your backs. If we can stay alive for a few more days, all of the zombies will starve to death and we'll win." He grimaced as he started walking towards the door nearest the dorms. "And maybe I can avoid Chris for the next few days, too."

Jared followed Jensen down the hall, waving good-bye at Mike and Allison. He was hoping that Jensen could avoid Chris, too, but he didn't think it was all that likely. But so long as he could avoid being anywhere around when they met up again, he could live with it. He hoped.

* * *

The next afternoon when Sandy got out of class she was surprised to see Chris waiting outside, leaning back against the wall with one foot propped up and an unlit cigarette in his mouth. "Were you waiting for me, or are you just holding up the wall?"

Chris grinned lazily at her, pulling the cigarette out of his mouth and twirling it between his fingers. "I was waiting for you. Holding up the wall was just a bonus. You don't have anywhere you need to be, do you?"

She shook her head. "Not for a couple of hours. Why?"

His grin widened. "I don't like being a zombie. I don't like that I got tagged last night, and I don't like that I have to wear this stupid bandana on my head for the rest of the game. That said, since I am a zombie, I want to take Jensen and the others out."

"Why would you want to do that?"

Chris's grin turned feral. "If I'm going to play, no matter which side I'm on, I want to win. And right now winning means tagging them."

Sandy frowned in confusion. "And what does this have to do with me?"

"I have a plan, and I need your help."

"You need my help?" By this point Sandy had started walking again with Chris only a step behind.

He nodded, slinging an arm around her shoulders and just chuckling when she tried to shrug him off. "Yep. Because out of all of you zombies, you're probably the smartest one. And you'll probably be able to explain my plan to the others without wringing anyone's neck."

Sandy smiled. "That last bit was all about Chad, wasn't it? I can tell; everyone wants to strangle him at one point or another."

"Does this mean you'll help?"

She nodded. "Yes, I'll help. But I may wind up strangling Chad anyway."

Chris laughed. "Cool. If you do, I'll take pictures. Sell 'em to everyone who's ever met Chad and make a fortune."

"Ooh, sell them to all of his ex-girlfriends to use as dart boards. That would go over really well." Sandy kicked absently at a rock, blushing when it skidded sideways and hit some other girl in the ankle. "So, you have a plan? Is it a good plan?"

Chris nodded, smile turning smug. "Hell yeah. It'll only work once, they'll be watching for it afterwards, but we can use it to take Rosenbaum out of the picture. It'll be seriously cool."

"All right. Let's go find Chad, and I can't believe I just said that." Sandy wrinkled her nose in disgust. "He thinks he's in charge since he was the first zombie, and he'll bitch like nobody's business if we don't run this by him first, for all the good it'll do."

With a snort of laugher, Chris nodded. "Well, then. Let's go find Murray."

* * *

Mike fastened his towel tightly around his waist, slipped his yellow arm band snugly around his left bicep and carefully poked his head out of the bathroom, lips curling up when he saw the three zombies lying in wait for him. He cocked his nerf gun and dashed out into the hall, one dart hitting Chad in the forehead and the next one hitting Sandy in the stomach.

He spun around, completely ignoring the way that his towel started to slip down his hips, and the third dart struck Tom right in the chest. Mike grinned, raising his gun to blow across the barrel as he went to retrieve his darts.

"Nice try, guys. But you'll have to be better than that to get me."

Tom smiled sheepishly as he bent down to grab Mike's last dart. "Yeah, well, we didn't think you'd be at your best in a towel. Guess that just shows how much we know." He held out the dart, smile turning just slightly smug as Mike moved forward to take it.

The instant Mike's hand closed around the dart he felt a decidedly feminine hand reach down and pat him on top of the head. He looked up, jaw dropping in shock when he noticed that Kristen had somehow managed to wedge herself up between the overhanging pipes and the ceiling.

She grinned down at him, dark hair starting to fall out of its ponytail and around her face. "Was that better enough for you, Rosenbaum?" She wiggled slightly, pulling herself along on the pipes until she hit a spot where she could slip out. "Hey, Welling. Get over here and help me down."

Tom reached up to grab Kristen's hands, giving her something to brace herself on as she dropped down and flipped over to land gracefully on her feet. Then she walked over to Mike, kissed him on the end of his nose and pulled off his arm band. "Congratulations, Mike. You are now one of the evil undead. Your membership card will be in the mail."

Mike closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall, absently holding his towel closed. "I'm never going to hear the end of this. Jensen will never let this go, and we'll probably meet up in fifteen years and the first thing out of his smug mouth will be a crack about me getting beaten by a cheerleader. It's just not fair."

Sandy chuckled as she sauntered over to him, reaching up to pat him consolingly on his bare shoulder. "As some really annoying person named Ackles told me, that's life. Deal with it, and embrace your inner zombie. You'll be better off in the long run."

Mike just sighed as he watched the others saunter away. "Not when Jensen finds out, I won't."

Kristen looked back over her shoulder and flashed him a sympathetic smile. "If it makes you feel any better, the whole idea was Chris's. So at least you got beat by the best." Then she wiggled her fingers at him in a wave and walked off.

"This was Kane's plan?" He blinked in shock. "That's so not nice."

* * *

Word of Mike's zombification had spread like wildfire, as had the origins of the plan that had taken him out. The whole thing had Jensen in a complete frazzle since he had taken it upon himself to take Mike's place as the leader of the dwindling human population, seemingly taking the game even more seriously than he had before.

He was also making sure to send scathing glares in Chris's direction whenever he saw the other man, and there were times that Jared was positive that Jensen was going to forget that he and Chris were friends and do something he would regret later. In fact, Jensen was getting so crazy that Jared had started avoiding him and hanging around with Allison instead.

Allie might be a bit crazy, but she was saner than Jensen at the moment, which sadly wasn't saying all that much.

Of course, Jared couldn't avoid Jensen at night since they shared a room, but he found that pulling the blankets up over his head and snoring really loudly usually kept Jensen from bothering him. Usually. Except, apparently, for tonight.

The first thing that let Jared know that his plan for avoiding Jensen's zombie-induced insanity wasn't going to work was the heavy weight that suddenly fell across his legs. Then the covers were jerked back away from his face and the next thing he knew Jensen was sitting on his stomach and leaning down over him, hands braced on either side of Jared's head and a manic grin on his face.

"Um, Jensen, what are you doing?"

The grin just widened as Jensen leaned even closer, nearly brushing Jared's nose with his own. "I have a plan."

Jared groaned quietly as he tried to shift away from Jensen and failed miserably. "That's nice, Jen, but that doesn't explain why you're sitting on me."

"I had to make sure you wouldn't go anywhere while I explained my plan to you. So I sat on you." From the expression on his face, Jensen thought that this made absolutely perfect sense. Jared, however, didn't see it that way.

"Jensen, I'm not going to go anywhere. You really don't have to sit on me." Jared kept his voice calm and even since he was pretty sure that it was a bad idea to antagonize the obviously crazy person, especially when said crazy person was sitting on him and he was still tangled in the sheets. "How about you get off my stomach, and then you can tell me all about your plan?"

Jensen just shook his head, settling himself more comfortably on top of Jared's midsection and thankfully leaning back away from Jared's face. "Sorry, Jared. I can't take the chance that you might try to run off. Once I finish explaining about my plan, then I'll let you up. You understand."

Jared really didn't understand, but he nodded anyway. "Sure, Jensen. Whatever you say. So, what's this plan of yours?"

"It's so simple I don't know why I didn't think of it before. They know our schedules, know when we're going where. All we have to do is mix it up a little, start going places they wouldn't expect at times when they're not watching. Start climbing in and out windows, never using the doors."

There was complete silence for a moment while Jared tried to figure out the best way to make Jensen see reason, if that was even possible. "Jen, you've already been going in and out the dorm window. And some of the windows in the other buildings are sealed shut; you can't open them." He shifted a little, trying to nudge Jensen back a bit so that he could breathe better. "And I think what you really need right now is a little more sleep and a little less coffee."

Jensen frowned, eyes wide and hurt. "What are you saying, Jared?"

It took a lot of effort for Jared to keep his voice light and even, but he managed it. "I'm saying that you need to be well rested in order to be at your best. Think about it, Jen. How much easier would it be to kick zombie ass if you've had a full night's sleep and don't have the caffeine jitters?"

Jensen cocked his head to the side, lower lip caught between his teeth as he considered that. "Hmm, you might have something there, Jared."

Jared held his breath, desperately hoping that he had gotten through to Jensen and the other man would get off of him and go to sleep, preferably in his own bed. Then he let out a not quite silent sigh of relief when Jensen finally got to his feet and headed for the other bed. "Trust me, Jen. It'll be better this way."

By this point Jensen was actually lying down on the bed, and Jared debated on whether he should get Jensen back up just long enough for him to change into his flannel pants. After a moment, though, he decided that any potential discomfort Jensen might suffer due to falling asleep in the wrong pants would be worth it so long as he actually did sleep. Instead, he turned over onto his side and reached over to turn off the lamp, then just waited until he heard the sound of Jensen's faint snores.

"Oh, yeah. Much better this way." Jared smiled, pulled his blankets back up and set his mental alarm clock. It would probably be better if he was already gone by the time Jensen got up in the morning.

* * *

When Jared woke up he glanced over at Jensen's bed and grinned when he realized that the other man was still sound asleep. He slipped quietly out of bed, tossed on his clothes and grabbed his backpack and his guns, including the blow gun that he hadn't had a chance to use yet. Then he headed for the window, quietly opened it and dropped outside.

He managed to get to the cafeteria without running into any zombies, which this late in the game was something of a surprise. By the time he got his breakfast he'd noticed Allison sitting on the far side of the room, so he took his tray and dropped into a chair across from her.

She arched an eyebrow at him before stuffing a piece of toast in her mouth. After taking a moment to chew and swallow she glanced pointedly at the empty chair next to him. "Where's your other half, Padalecki?"

"You mean Jensen?" When she nodded, Jared snorted. "Hopefully still asleep. I think sleep depravation and an overabundance of coffee was driving him completely insane. That, and I think the game and thinking that he's in charge now that Mike's a zombie has gone to his head."

Allison laughed, snorting orange juice up her nose. "Sounds about right. Ackles always has had a tendency to go a bit too far with things."

Jared rested his chin in his hand and looked up at Allison through his bangs. "He's gone way past a little too far. He sat on me last night so I couldn't run away while he rambled on about some sort of plan for winning the game."

This time the orange juice spurted across the table. "He sat on you? Seriously?"

"You think I'd make something like that up? There I was, trying to sleep, or at least trying to pretend to sleep, and he just plops down on my stomach and won't get up." Jared shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Luckily he was so out of it that I was eventually able to convince him to leave me alone."

Allison just laughed at his disgruntled expression. "You poor thing. You poor, abused thing." Then she reached up to pat his head, completely ignoring his glare.

"It's not funny, Allie." He tried to keep the whine out of his voice, but from the expression on Allison's face he wasn't anywhere near successful.

"Yes, it really is. In fact, it's downright hilarious." Apparently Jared's glare was finally starting to work on her, because Allison visibly tried to hold back her mirth. "It's not that bad, Jared. The game'll be over soon one way or another and then Jensen will go back to normal. You just have to wait it out."

Jared sighed, slumping and resting his forehead against the tabletop. "I sure as hell hope so. I'm just about at the end of my rope."

Allison patted him on the head again, then her hand froze on the back of his head. "Speaking of Ackles, he just walked in the door. He looks kinda...frazzled. Or possibly psychotic, I can't really tell."

Jared groaned, lightly thumping his head on the table. "Is he looking this way?"

"Nope. Doesn't look like he's seen you yet, either. If you run now, you just might escape unscathed."

One hand snaked down to grab his backpack while he stuffed a piece of toast in his mouth with the other. Then Jared glanced ever-so casually over his shoulder, breathing a sigh of relief when he realized that Jensen was in line to get his breakfast and was facing the other way entirely. He swallowed his toast, took one last gulp of his orange juice, blew Allison a kiss and slunk as quietly as he could towards the doors.

A moment later he was out of the cafeteria with no sign that Jensen had seen him. He grinned, settled his backpack a little more comfortably on his shoulder and headed for the stairs. He'd go up to the first floor and slip out one of the side doors, hopefully avoiding any zombies that might be lying in wait.

It didn't work out quite the way he had hoped. When he made it to his chosen exit, he noticed that Sandy was sitting on the stairs, not quite blocking them but positioned just right so that she could reach out and grab anyone who was going up or down. After a moment's thought Jared grinned and pulled out the blow gun that he hadn't had a chance to use yet.

He loaded a dart into the barrel and eased slowly out the far door, trying not to make any noise. The instant he was completely outside he raised the gun and took a deep breath, blowing as hard as he could when Sandy started to turn around.

The dart smacked right into her chest, and her eyes nearly crossed when she glanced down at it in apparent shock. Jared burst out laughing, blow gun dangling from one hand and the other arm holding his stomach.

"Wow, my morning just got about ten times better. Confused is a good look for you, Sandy."

Sandy blinked, then slowly pushed to her feet, crossing her arms and tapping one foot. "That was not cool, Padalecki. Not cool at all. And I will get you back for it."

Jared's grin didn't even waver. "That's nice, Sandy. Now if you'll excuse me, I've gotta run." He glanced back inside to make sure that Jensen was nowhere nearby. "See you later, and try not to starve to death." Then he wiggled his fingers at her and took off down the stairs, leaving her holding the dart.

* * *

Allison slipped out of the cafeteria only a minute or two behind Jared, not wanting to take the chance that he hadn't been exaggerating about just how far around the bend Jensen had gone. She headed for the campus post office, checking to see if the package that she had been waiting for had finally arrived and grinning when she noticed the pink slip in her mailbox. A moment later she was standing in line to get her package.

Once she had the medium-sized box she headed for the nearest door, wanting to get her loot to her dorm room before she had to dash off to class. She was in a hurry, so she didn't check to see if there were any zombies around before she stepped outside, and if she hadn't heard him snicker she would have never noticed that Chad was outside until she ran into him.

As it was she jerked to a stop a few yards away from him, cursing under her breath when she realized that her gun was still in her backpack and she had no way of getting to it while still holding her package in one hand.

Chad just stood there and grinned at her, hands shoved in his pockets and rocking slightly on the balls of his feet. "Well, what do we have here? The only human girl left in the game, and all alone without her gun. Whatever will you do now?"

Allison rolled her eyes, trying to unobtrusively reach for the loose darts in her pocket. It wasn't like she could come up with anything else, and since it wasn't against the rules she was going to give it a try. And if it did work, Chad would more than likely be horribly embarrassed, which was always good for a laugh or two. She just needed to get him a little closer.

"Come on, Murray. Come and get me. Or are you afraid of the little girl who doesn't even have her gun out?" She shot him a wicked smirk, fighting back a laugh as he glared at her. "Is that it? Poor little Chad is afraid of one unarmed girl? That's just so sad. I think I might just cry."

He huffed out a breath, eyebrows lowered and lips pressed into a thin line. "I'd watch my mouth if I were you, Mack. Because it sounds like you're writing checks your ass is gonna have to cash."

Allison wrinkled her nose and stuck out her tongue. "You're all talk, Murray. You think you can take me? Then come and get me."

Chad growled and ran straight at her, never even attempting to dodge as she pulled the darts out of her pocket and flung them at his chest. Three of them hit him before he was anywhere close enough to touch her, and Allison practically cackled at the heartbroken expression on his face.

"Ouch! Murray, you just got your ass handed to you by a girl. A girl with no gun, I might add. How's that feel, oh not so manly man?"

Chad just stood there, blinking at her with his mouth hanging open. Eventually, Allison got close enough to reach out and put a finger under his chin and close his mouth.

"Wow, I broke you. Huh, didn't mean to do that." She shrugged, retrieved her darts and slipped them back in her pocket. "Oh, well. Too bad. I'd stay around and try to fix you, Murray, but if I don't get going right now I'm going to be late." She patted him on the cheek and flashed him a bright smile. "Gotta run. I'd say I was sorry for ruining your little macho posturing, but that would be a lie. Bye now."

Then she headed out onto the quad and finally let loose with the roaring laughter that she had been holding back.

* * *

Jared managed to avoid both Jensen and the zombies for the rest of the day, which he couldn't help but find rather surprising. He had figured that at least some of the zombies would have been stalking the final few humans, but unless they all had for some reason or other been focusing solely on Jensen and Allison, which he didn't think that they had, he was apparently mistaken.

Unfortunately, the complete and utter lack of zombies other than the one small confrontation with Sandy that morning left Jared feeling increasingly nervous and jumpy as the day went on. Which meant that by the time he finally headed for his dorm room for the night he was constantly looking over his shoulder, his gun in one hand and his finger already on the trigger.

When he made it safely to his room he forced himself to sit his gun on the desk, grimacing at the twinge in his trigger finger from being so tense for so long. Then he flopped back onto his bed, flinging one arm over his eyes and groaning. If he wasn't careful before the game was over he would wind up as paranoid as Jensen had gotten, which wasn't something that he wanted to contemplate. At all.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, feeling some of the tension seep out of his shoulders along with the air from his lungs as he relaxed back into the mattress. His eyes were closed, and after only a few minutes of slow and steady breathing he felt much more in control and a lot less paranoid. After all, it was only a game and it would be over one way or another in just a couple more days. There was no reason at all for him to go crazy over a game.

He had managed to talk himself back down to sanity by the time Jensen came bounding in the door, hair mussed, suspicious grass stains on his pants and a familiar manic gleam in his eyes. Jared just looked at him in silence for a moment, then let his head fall back and pulled his pillow up over his face. Maybe he could smother himself to death before Jensen managed to pull him back into insanity, and even if he couldn't kill himself he could at least knock himself out. It would probably be safer that way.

Unfortunately before he could send himself into relatively painless unconsciousness Jensen jumped onto the bed and once again seated himself comfortably on Jared's stomach. Jared kept the pillow over his face, childishly hoping that if he ignored Jensen for long enough that the other man would eventually go away. Unsurprisingly, it didn't work.

"You're a good friend, Jared. The very, very best."

Jared frowned, then pulled the pillow just far enough away from his face so that he could see Jensen. "I'm glad you think I'm a good friend, Jen, but why are you sitting on me again?"

Jensen bounced slightly on Jared's stomach, snickering when it made Jared wheeze for breath. "You're comfortable. And I wanted to make sure you were paying attention when I told you that you were a good friend."

If there had been a hard surface handy to beat his head against Jared would probably have given himself a concussion at that statement. "Thank you, Jensen. But now that you've told me, do you think you could get off my stomach? It's getting a little hard to breathe."

Jensen flashed him a wounded pout, eyes wide. "Are you saying that you think I'm fat, Jared? Because that wouldn't be nice, and then you wouldn't be such a good friend after all."

Jared groaned, the urge to simply beat his head against something until he was unconscious strengthening. "No, Jensen. I don't think that you're fat. I didn't mean to sound like I did. Anyone sitting on my stomach like that makes it hard to breathe. I wouldn't let Sandy sit on me like that, either."

"Are you sure about that, Jared? You're not just saying that?"

"No, Jensen. I'm not just saying that. When have you ever known me to say anything that I didn't mean?"

Jensen cocked his head to the side, biting his lower lip in thought. Then he nodded, shifting sideways so that he was sitting on the bed next to Jared's hip instead of on top of him. "Is this better, Jared?"

Jared took a deep breath, eyes closing in relief. "Much better, thanks." He concentrated on the sheer pleasure of breathing without hindrance for a long moment, then realized that Jensen was still sitting on his bed. "Was there something else you wanted to tell me?"

Jensen nodded, looking for all the world like an eager puppy. Or at least a puppy that had gotten into the coffee a few too many times. "I overheard some of the zombies talking at lunch when they didn't realize that I could hear them." He paused with a frown. "Or maybe they did realize that I could hear them and were going over their plans on purpose in order to feed us false information and eat all our brains."

It was starting to sound like the kind of conversation that Jared wanted to be sitting up for. Well, he didn't actually want to have the conversation at all, but if he was going to be forced to, which it looked like he was, he didn't want to have it flat on his back. So he pushed himself up until he could lean back against the headboard and turned to face Jensen.

"How about you tell me what the zombies were saying and then we can figure out if they were letting you overhear it on purpose or not?" When the game was over, Jared was going to put Jensen on a strict no-caffeine diet for at least a month just to make sure that all of it was out of his system and hopefully he would go back to being his occasionally annoying but usually perfectly sane self.

Jensen nodded, pulling his legs up onto the bed and wrapping his arms around his knees, a position that he normally wouldn't have been caught dead in. "They said that they were going to lay low tomorrow and then sneak attack us on the last day before they all starve to death. Apparently they want to lull us into a false sense of security and then eat us when we least expect it."

As far as plans went, it made a certain amount of sense. Let them think that the zombies were giving up and then get them when their guard was down. Of course, it could all be a ploy to get their guard down earlier and get them then. "Did they say anything about who came up with the plan?"

"I think they said that it was Chad's plan. There was something about getting even with Allie in there somewhere, but I kinda missed that part."

Jared snorted. "That sounds a little ambitious for a Chad plan, though I guess one of the others could have helped him come up with it. One more question: were either Mike or Chris there?"

Jensen frowned at the mention of his former best friend turned zombie traitor, but shook his head. "Nope, neither of them were there. In fact, I haven't seen either of them since they got zombified. In fact, I think Steve got bit by his song writing muse again and kidnapped Chris to help."

"In that case, they probably had no idea you were there and that really is their plan. Which means we can relax tomorrow and wait for the ambush on Friday." Jared crossed his arms behind his head. "I wonder what Allie did to Chad to get him so pissed off?"

Jensen shrugged, finally getting up and moving over to his own bed. "No clue. Knowing them, it could have been absolutely anything. But I bet whatever it was, it was damn funny."

Jared laughed, sliding back down on the bed until he was flat again. "Yeah, I bet it was."

* * *

The next day passed relatively quietly. The only zombie Jared saw the entire day was Sophia, and since she was sitting in the library and he only saw her through the window as he walked by she wasn't a threat.

Also, it seemed like most of the caffeine was finally out of Jensen's system, and while he was still somewhat stressed out about the end of the game, he was quite a bit saner than he had been. He hadn't exactly apologized for sitting on Jared, but he had made it known in a sort of round about way that he was sorry, which was more than Jared had expected. All in all it was a fairly relaxing day.

Friday, however, was anything but relaxing.

It started at seven that morning when Jensen woke him up by jumping on his bed once again, yanking the pillow out from under Jared's head and then proceeding to smack him in the face with it. Jared just rubbed his eyes tiredly and sighed, shaking his head at the unmistakable smell of coffee on Jensen's breath. He had no idea where the other man had gotten it so early, and the more he thought about it the more he realized that he didn't really want to know, either.

But since it was the last day of the game he decided to let Jensen's slip back into his coffee-driven insanity go without comment. He just reminded himself that Jensen would be back to normal, or at least as close to normal as he ever got, soon and Jared was perfectly capable of waiting him out. After all, he was still friends with Chad, wasn't he?

So he decided that the best thing to do would be to let Jensen take the lead, so long as he didn't do anything extremely crazy, and just follow along. Even when that meant sneaking out of his dorm room window before eight in the morning carrying no fewer than three Nerf guns and at least forty spare darts. He might feel extremely silly, which he did, but it would be easier in the long run.

Jensen refused to let him eat breakfast in the cafeteria, claiming that it was just what the zombies would be expecting and it would be too hard for just the two of them to take out an entire zombie army on the way out of the university center so that they could go to class. Jared thought that the idea of a Chad-led zombie army was a bit ridiculous, but said absolutely nothing in the face of Jensen's earnest concern.

So breakfast was a chocolate chocolate-chip muffin out of the mini-mart with a chocolate Milk Chug to wash it down. After all, if Jared was going to be forced to eat what was essentially a gas station breakfast he was damn well going to enjoy it.

Unfortunately, lunch received the same treatment as breakfast, and Jared was beginning to regret his plan to just let Jensen go unchecked for the entire day. But he told himself firmly that Jensen was his best friend, and it was only for the rest of the day anyway, so suck it up and go on.

They met up with Allison after lunch and before Jared could think to warn her Jensen had latched onto her arm and was pulling her along after him, completely ignoring her attempts to make him let go. When she looked over her shoulder at Jared and mouthed 'help' at him, all he could do was shrug and mouth back 'sorry.'

It wasn't until they were safely inside that Jensen finally let go of Allison's arm. "Sorry about that, but I had to make sure that you didn't walk right into the zombies' trap."

Allison blinked, mouth opening and closing several times before she finally just bit her lip and shook her head. "You know, Jared, a few days ago I thought you were exaggerating, blowing things completely out of proportion. I was wrong." She cocked her head in Jensen's direction. "If anything, you were down playing it."

Jared just shrugged again. "I'm sure things will be better tomorrow."

"For your sake, I sure hope so."

"Are you two talking about me?" Jensen was staring at them, arms crossed over his chest and what looked suspiciously like a pout forming on his face. "It's not nice to talk about your fearless leader behind his back like that."

Jared closed his eyes, one hand coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose in an attempt to hold off the headache that was threatening. "Jensen, I'm your friend, so please believe me when I tell you that you're starting to sound like Chad. And you don't want to sound like Chad, do you?"

Jensen shook his head and relaxed a bit. "Thanks for catching that, Jared. I knew there was a reason that I made you my second in command."

Since that was the first time Jared had heard anything at all about being Jensen's second he decided that it was more than likely the coffee talking and proceeded to ignore it completely. "You were saying something about a zombie trap?" And the moment he asked the question he regretted it, especially when Jensen's eyes lit up.

"Yeah. Since they're all going to starve if they don't tag someone by seven tonight they're all planning on waiting for one of us to try to get into the cafeteria for dinner and then taking us out." He glanced around to make sure that no one was listening in on them and leaned closer. "And I think they've got people watching the mini-mart, too. Apparently they didn't like the fact that we snuck in there to get food earlier."

The headache that had been threatening was finally there in full force, pounding through Jared's temples. "Jen, when did you find this out? You haven't let me out of your sight all day."

Jensen grinned. "I have my ways. That's why I'm in charge and you're not."

Jared firmly told himself that strangling Jensen into unconsciousness was not a good idea, no matter how much he might enjoy it. "So where are we going to get food, Jensen? Because I don't know about you, but I can't survive on just two quick trips to the mini-mart. I need real food."

Since Jensen looked like his plan included Jared going hungry, Jared was relieved when Allison spoke up. "Look, it's nearly four o'clock now. None of us have anything else that we have to do today, so why don't we just sneak into the cafeteria and wait until after the zombies starve to leave? We can probably make it in the side door facing the biology building. Almost no one even knows that door is there."

Jensen was visibly wavering, so Jared took Allison's plan and ran with it. "And we can even grab a table by the windows so all the zombies will know that we got past them. It'll piss Chad off like nobody's business."

After another moment of thought Jensen nodded. "Sounds good to me. Let's fall out."

Allison and Jared both rolled their eyes behind Jensen's back, but followed him towards the biology building anyway. They made it inside with no problems, and made their way towards the door nearest the university center. Jared poked his head outside, grinning in relief when he couldn't see any sign of zombies.

"Okay, guys. Head for the door, and don't stop moving until you're inside." Then Jensen took off at a dead run, almost slipping and falling as he dashed up the stairs. Jared and Allison just shrugged at each other and took off after him, sliding in the door and almost knocking Jensen over.

They went straight to the cafeteria, where Jared got about twice as much food as he would have normally in an attempt to make up for the incredible lack of food earlier in the day. Then they all headed for one of the tables nearest the windows, grinning at a rather put out looking Sophia and Tom who were sitting outside.

The later it got, the more zombies began to congregate outside and the more glee Jensen seemed to take in waving at them, looking pointedly at his watch, shaking his head and clucking his tongue. And he burst into fits of what could only be called giggles when the clock finally struck seven and Chad and several of the other zombies began visibly cursing, pulling their bandanas off and throwing them on the ground.

When he finally had control of himself again Jensen flashed Jared and Allison a bright grin. "Congratulations, my fellow humans. We have survived the zombie outbreak and all is right with the world."

Allison returned Jensen's grin as she leaned back in her chair and stretched her arms over her head. "And on that note, boys, I'm heading back to my dorm. I have a paper to write and an exam to study for."

Once Allison was gone Jared reached over and clapped Jensen on the shoulder. "I'm heading back to the dorm, too, Jen. Try not to get mobbed by the ex-zombies when you leave."

Jensen grinned, sprawled in his chair and hands behind his head. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

Jared was almost to the door when Jensen spoke again, and what he heard sent a cold shiver down his spine.

"And just wait 'til next semester. Those zombies won't know what hit 'em."

The End


End file.
